


Night Blossom

by BlushingMuse



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Azriel needs a hug, Elain Archeron/Azriel Fluff, Eliriel, F/M, Fluff, POV Azriel (ACoTaR), Transitional Ship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:34:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25127848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlushingMuse/pseuds/BlushingMuse
Summary: It sings to her, not quite the way it sings to him. Somewhere along the way, he found a kindred spirit. She's not his to have, he knows this, she knows this, and yet, what lurks in the shadows is a bond neither of them could ever expect...
Relationships: Elain Archeron/Azriel
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

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Around me, the shadows curled and tendriled out. She didn’t seem to mind. Not as I watched her there at my side. Not once did she shudder. Almost as though something inside her recognized something inside of me. Stupid. It was stupid.

I knew that look, the one she held as she looked beyond the hedges. She wasn’t there, wasn’t here. Lost to the shadows. That was something I understood. It made sitting there easy. Bearable. Unlike me, she had my presence, even if I doubted it were a comfort.

We didn’t speak then. Not with words. In the sunlight, out in the small yard, we sat consumed by our respective darkness, and though I would never voice it, I think she brought me more comfort in those moments than I offered her.

I must have been lost in thought, because she wasn’t in my sight for a second, and then another. A heartbeat too many, and I had found her standing beside me. Slowly, as if fearful she might run off, I looked her over. The frail stature made her seem extremely breakable, as though a single breath in her direction would make her crumple. Still she had a strength I recognized. Some might have called her gaunt, but I knew what she was. Haunted. It spoke to her, the darkness. I knew it did.

“They sing so beautifully.” Her fingers nearly brushed my hair, but I knew she wasn’t referring to anything of this world. She could see them, even when they weren’t out for prying gazes to witness.

Her thin hips swayed, or perhaps that was the ripple of the wind through her skirts the color of dawn. Either way, when she looked at me, through me, I could feel the whispers she heard as they spoke to mine. A language we knew yet was foreign to us.

“Too bad she’ll never hear them, not really.”

Her hand had lingered on my cheek though our flesh never connected. Her voice haunting me as she sank on the seat beside me once more. Many shuddered at the sight of me, but not Elain Archeron. Even with my wings outstretched behind me casting shadows, she merely sat there. Neither of us moved. Not until Rhysand has come to relieve me. Feyre and the twins ushering the golden haired fawn away into the house.

I didn’t look back. Couldn’t. Beneath me the city grew smaller and smaller with every flap of wing. I had spiders and birds to speak to, before I could truly think over the words she had spoken to me.

For weeks, I expected her to unpack her words, the way everyone seemed to have to explain their outbursts, but there was something absolutely unapologetic about the girl I watched in the garden. Beyond her silence, beyond the pieces she spoke here and there, recounting tales that seemingly came from nowhere, she didn’t seem to see how strange she was to the world.


	2. Chapter 2

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Everyone had been busy with their own thing. Rhysand and Feyre prepared for what seemed to be the inevitable. Clinging to every piece of themselves they could before war would ravage the progress we had made. Nothing could prepare a being for war, or perhaps there was though it remained unspeakable. Much like my first years of my life.

I should have broken as many soldiers do on the field, but the darkness had sung to me, much like it sang to her. It had filled me, drowned me, and then revived me. It was in every pore of my skin, every inch of my flesh. I was shadow, and though she wasn't the same as me, she had shadows. Shadows others saw as grief, and loss, but I knew it was more. There were no words to express how I knew, or what I knew, but when I met her gaze, it stared back at me, reared its head in recognition.

I had never forgotten where I came from. Just as I had never forgiven the Ilyrians for how they had made me. I might have worn their leathers, and fought alongside them, but not once did I think I was one of them. Not truly. Though my brothers knew my past, they only knew what I shared, what I allowed them to see. Perhaps it was why I had taken it upon myself to sit with her in silence with her every day. To not leave her to their pity, or worse, how they decided to interpret her responses to the outside world. It had prompted my next moves in regards to her. A need to make sure she wasn't subject to everyone's desire of her convalescence as if this were mere heartbreak.

“You’re late,” my voice was cold, even to my standards.

Nuala was the first to speak. “The lady required our presence,” she spoke her voice like mist and starlight.

“We didn’t hear anything worth being shared,” Cerridwen continued.

“I’m not here for what you’ve heard in the house, you know the rules,” he reminded them sternly. “I…” he wasn’t sure how to express what he was about to ask them. “I need you to do something I haven’t trained you for,” he continued.

The twins eyed him, their black pupils bleeding into their dark irises. Still, they bowed their head in understanding. A new task. Whatever it was, they would do it.

“I’ll be gone for a while, I...I want you to be there for Elain.” It was the closest he could get to what he wanted, not that he had words for it.

Cerridwen eyed me. "We are," she assured, Nuala nodding at her side.

"Just be there, don't push..."

Whatever they made of it, I trusted the pair to do the right thing. No other words were needed, and as if the three of us had never met on that roof, we disappeared into the shadows. At least my mind would be at ease while I fetched information, while I let the shadows sing to me and gather all we could for the uphill battle ahead.


	3. Chapter 3

  
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Beyond the wall hadn’t been the most inviting of places. Especially around the castle the Queens had locked themselves in. Whispers and secrets were hard to come by. Getting into the fortress wasn't an option, the wards wouldn’t let me even close enough to stalk the entrances. Even in the skies, I had been held away, beyond the reach of my senses. Still I had circled, gathering my thoughts as I had gathered shadows around me, cloaked myself in them.

Up in the clouds, I had expanded my reach until a small village had come to view. Similar to the one Feyre had come from, and yet different. Being so close to the castle, one would have expected more, but it was grim, even by my standards. There was a stench in the air, a mix of human and animal that lingered about. Human villages like these were common, too much so. Hardship on calloused hands, hunger and desperation clinging all around. Where many of my kin would have seen animals, I saw something else. A part of myself I never wanted to acknowledge, and yet, they had it easy despite their mortality. Easier than the women and children of the Ilyrian camps.

I’d found myself in the dark corners of a pub in the village, listening as people spoke, though more nights than not, he found himself hearing the benign lives of mortals.

A few tables over a farmer spoke of the girl from Feyre’s village, the news finally having made it this far. Beyond it, a young merchant spoke of loss and harsh sea conditions, both of which he blamed on the fae. Typical.

Discontent after discontent, I nearly tuned out. It wasn’t so different where I’d come from. Even in my box, I heard them. Heard them, like I heard these creatures discussing their hardships as if it were the worst thing in the world.

It was as ridiculous to hear now as it had been them. In the shadows here, in the box there, it was the same. Stuck. Caught. Incapable of escape. I was glad to be away from home, away from any soul that would recognize me as the air began to escape my lungs. Hidden in plain sight, even if I’d faltered no one recognized me, no one saw me. I was shadow.

They sung to me, when I’d lost hope. Trapped in that small square box, cooking away in the sun. The longer I’d been left, the more I seemed to grow. As though instead of being made to recoil, to stop my spurt, it had done the opposite. Aches had kept me curled on myself, nearly sobbing in pain, though I hadn’t understood what it was from. Not until the walls felt closer together. I’d never used my wings but they had filled the empty space. The more I grew, the more I panicked. Inside the box, the air had felt thin, and when I had cocooned myself in my wings, and sobbed so much there had been nothing left to cry, they had lulled me to sleep. At first, I thought I had been going mad. I was convinced that they had broken me, but that had changed the night my brothers had opened the door and cried to my parents that I had gone missing.

When my father had come to the scene, the sun had risen and chased away the shadows. That was the day things had started getting worse. Perhaps it had been the reminder of that first ray of light that had filled the box, blinding me, that brought me back to the present. Or perhaps I hadn’t gone all that far as I thought.

“No one’s seen the sixth queen.”

“I heard the Fae got her.”

“I heard she threw herself off the highest tower, and they’ve kept it secret.”

I knew I wouldn’t be getting the right information that night, but it was something. It allowed me to find a target, someone that could be my eyes and ears within the walls of the castle. Someone that could feed me the right story, without drawing suspicion. The human version of Nuala and Cerridwen, with less talent.


	4. Chapter 4

  
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War was eminent. Any moment we’d be out in the field. Still, she had taken my hand that day, rather than ignore me. We didn’t head for her usual patch of garden blossoming in the sunlight. Instead she took me to the east side of the house, cast in shadows.

“Not everything grows in the light,” she told me, pointing to a number of shadow dwellers. “Some things strive in darkness,” she turned to me, and I met that honey gaze for the first time. There was a warmth in them I had never known.

I’d seen many eyes. Lights dimming on the other end of truth-teller. Attempts to curb pity. Strength in the face of impossible odds. Those that would deceive, which I dealt with on the daily. None like hers though. It was the sort of warmth I’d wanted from Mor. Perhaps I didn’t shy away from it here because we were both promised. Both longing for things we couldn’t have, for people who would never see us.

Lost for words I merely nodded.

“I added a moon garden,” her voice was a haze. It had the lightness of a summer breeze and the weight of fresh snow. “They bloom in the dark.”

She gave me another smile, even though I wasn’t. I couldn’t. Not yet. I wasn’t there yet. Instead I merely nodded in thanks, and she let me back to my thoughts as she moved to the next patch of flowers and dirt.

Silence was comfortable between us. Different from how it was with others. She didn’t feel the need to fill every passing moment with diatribes. When she spoke, she had a point, even if it might have seemed ridiculous. Tales she spun, that made no sense. Even to me, and yet, I listened without judgment. Whether it was about flowers or whatever the shadows whispered to her, I remained still at her side.

  
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Night had come and Mor and Cass wanted to go to Rita’s. Left without much of a choice I followed them as I always did. Centuries of habit mostly, and a need to keep an eye on them. Cassian sat between us as he always did, as if he were some wall I couldn’t surmount. We both knew that was a lie. If I had wanted to, I could have.

“So taking up gardening huh?” Cassian teased, his elbow digging into me.

“I’m watching over her. It’s a job.”

“I think we hit a soft spot.” Mor interjected with a bit of a teasing smile.

I ignored them and took a deep drink. I wanted to ask how her father was doing, but held it back. No, it wasn’t worth it. I had nothing to hide with Elain. She was mated, I was fated. “How’s the camp?” he asked Cassian instead.

“It’ll be ready,” he said. “But we’re not talking shop, not tonight…”

“Yeah, Az,” Mor added accusingly. “No work at Rita’s.”

“You both started it,” I reminded them.

Cassian perked a brow. “Babysitting a new fae...you’re considering that work?”

“Protecting Feyre’s sister is work.”

“More like protecting her from herself,” the mutter came from the blonde pushing off the table to stand. “I’m going to go dance, you’re both boring…”

I merely watched as she moved away, hips sashaying as she moved into the crowd. Soon enough, I could no longer see her with my eyes, but the shadows let me know of every sway. Sometimes I felt she did it to spite me, other times, I couldn’t quite tell.

Instead I let Cassian tease me as we drank. At some point he went on to dance as well, and I let myself out into the night. Wings spreading, knees bent, I pushed myself up, and launched into the air.

The cool wind brushed my wings, the darkness swallowing me whole as I allowed myself to just be. How long I spent up circling over the town, I couldn’t tell. Even the aches coursing through my muscles weren’t an indicator. Not with all the training I’d been doing.

I found my way back to the house on my way home. Rather than note the warmth coming from inside, or the few lights still on, something else drew my gaze. At first I mistook it for snow, but that wasn’t right. A while longer and I realized what I was looking at. Even more so as I landed in the gardens.

So many white flowers were in bloom. During the day, the area might as well have seemed like lush greens and nothing more, but at night...It came to life in the darkness. Just as she’d said.

How long I stayed, I couldn’t tell. Part of me thinks I never left, that even tucked in my bed afterwards, I had lingered, and continued on throughout the day.


End file.
